Fixing the evaluation quotient

Using evaluation systems like CCE need a lot more pruning before they’re running at optimum, finds Parvathi Benu
Chitra Ravi, Founder and CEO of Chrysalis
Chitra Ravi, Founder and CEO of Chrysalis

Using evaluation systems like CCE need a lot more pruning before they’re running at optimum, finds Parvathi Benu

Seven years after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) asked their teachers to undertake systematic evaluations, there’s some good news and there’s some bad news.

The good news is that more than 90 percent of the school teachers conduct the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) to assess students. The bad news is that less than 1 in 4 use the results as feedback to alter their methods of teaching. All these results and more were thrown up in a nation-wide study conducted by education research firm Chrysalis, which was previously known as EZ-Vidya. The study was conducted by the organisation across several states and involved the active participation of 757 teachers from 123 schools. 

Ironically, though it was designed as a tool to keep the learning process adaptive, CCE is mostly one-way traffic, “For most of the teachers, it is easy to prepare a worksheet and mark the children on it. The other assignments need a lot of preparation. So, they prefer the easier way,” says Chitra Ravi, Founder and CEO of Chrysalis. CBSE had introduced the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) scheme in schools in 2009.

Unfortunately, all these years down the line, it is merely serving as an additional form of exam-like assessment, finds the study — as many of 77% of the people (parents included) surveyed said that they associated CCE with a large number of tests. “The stress among the parents, teachers and the students have increased tremendously after the introduction of CCE,” adds Chitra Ravi, while explaining the need to better the way that CCE was approached in schools today. 

The added pressure and the perception that the returns are “average” have led to a call from a section of teachers to have the entire CCE system scrapped. A move that educationists, Chitra Ravi included, vehemently oppose.

Reach Out: www.chrysalis.com

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